reporter #2: and what about edwards' wife of 32 years--elizabeth? not only had to deal with her husband's betrayal. she's dealing with a cancer that threatens to take her life. tapper: yes, it was as bad as it sounds. edwards cheated on his cancer-stricken wife, had a baby with his secret girlfriend/employee, and then tried to pass it off as a key campaign staffer's kid. for years, edwards followed the three simple rules for unfaithful men-- deny, deny, deny. i have no idea what you're asking about. i don't respond to these lies. so when the truth came out, he looked like the most untrustworthy politician in the united states. here's the statement john edwards issued today... the scandal torpedoed his career, and with it, the dreams of so many people who had believed in him. -it's very shocking. -this is a man i was willing to vote for as president. why would he do a thing like that? why would he do that? he had to know that his personal failures would detonate his political career? yet he still seemed to believe that he was destined to transform the

elizabeth had married ninian edwards, who was a state legislator. and so mary came there and she was what we would describe being the stereotypical belle of the period. she was petite. she only stood about five two. she was light complected. she had blue eyes, light brown hair. that's very. and she was a little plump, which at the time was a positive. so she was pleasingly plump and as a result of this, she had many. among them was stephen douglass. and if you're familiar with the politics of the day, you'll know that he and abraham lincoln go head to head in debates in 1858. and there might be a toss up as to who won those debates. but it abraham lincoln who won mary todd's part, even though he was described as being the plainest looking man in springfield. and one thing that mary actually wrote about as far as what attracted her to abraham lincoln was the fact that he was honest. and i think today that's become a little trite, honest abe, that sort thing. but it's something that mary actually noticed about him. they also were both passionate about